FairGame Initiative ("FairGame," "we," "us," or "our") is a nonprofit organization based in Ohio dedicated to expanding access to competitive science fair opportunities for K–12 students throughout the state. We operate the website at fairgameinitiative.org and the associated student, teacher, ambassador, and judge portals (collectively, the "Platform").
FairGame is organized as a nonprofit entity and is not subject to COPPA as a matter of federal law (COPPA applies to commercial websites; see 15 U.S.C. § 6502). However, we voluntarily adopt and exceed COPPA's protections because we believe the privacy of every student — especially those under 13 — must be actively safeguarded. Nothing in this policy should be interpreted to limit the protections described herein.
This Privacy Policy applies to all individuals who interact with our Platform, including:
Different data practices apply to different user types. This policy describes each where relevant.
We take the privacy of children under 13 extremely seriously. Any student who indicates during registration that they are under 13 years of age will be subject to the following additional protections:
Every student registration form on our Platform includes an age confirmation checkbox that must be selected before account creation. Students who cannot truthfully confirm they are 13 or older will be directed to request that a parent or guardian assist with account setup.
Even with parental consent, we limit data collection from students under 13 to the absolute minimum required to deliver program services: name, school, grade, project title, and project field. We do not collect any data beyond this from any student, regardless of age.
We do not market any products or services to children. We do not use a child's personal information for any commercial purpose whatsoever. FairGame does not display advertising on its Platform.
| User Type | Data Collected | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| All registered users | Name, email address, password (hashed — never stored in plaintext) | Account creation and authentication |
| Students (individual accounts) | Name, school name, grade level, project title, project field/category | Program enrollment and competition management |
| Student Ambassadors | Name, school, email, grade level | Ambassador program coordination |
| Teachers / Professionals | Name, school, email, county/region | Teacher portal access and coordination |
| Judges / Mentors | Name, email, organization, area of expertise, county | Judge matching and public judge map |
When you visit our website, we may automatically collect limited technical data including:
This information is stored in our analytics table for security and program improvement purposes only. It is never used for advertising or shared with third parties for commercial use.
Students and teachers may upload competition documents (such as project abstracts or research papers) to private, authenticated storage. These files are accessible only to the student who uploaded them, their assigned teacher, and FairGame administrators. File access requires authentication at all times.
We use the information we collect only for the following purposes:
We do not use your personal information for advertising, profiling, selling data, or any commercial purpose.
| Data Type | Status |
|---|---|
| Social Security Numbers | NEVER COLLECTED |
| Home addresses (we collect city/county only if relevant) | NEVER COLLECTED |
| Date of birth (we collect age range only for COPPA purposes) | NEVER COLLECTED |
| Parent financial information | NEVER COLLECTED |
| Medical or disability information | NEVER COLLECTED |
| Disciplinary or behavioral records | NEVER COLLECTED |
| Student passwords (stored as hashed values only) | ENCRYPTED |
| Student data sold or shared with advertisers | NEVER |
| Student data shared with any third party for commercial purposes | NEVER |
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, protects the privacy of student education records at institutions that receive federal funding. FairGame works closely with schools and school districts and therefore treats all student information in our possession as subject to FERPA-equivalent protections, regardless of whether FERPA technically applies.
Teachers and school professionals who upload student information to FairGame's platform represent and warrant that they have appropriate school authorization and, where required by their school or district policy, parental consent to share such information with FairGame for program delivery purposes. FairGame's Terms of Service explicitly state this responsibility.
We collect only the minimum information necessary to deliver program services. We never request information that is not directly required for program participation.
Parents of students under 18, and students 18 or older, have the right to:
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at fairgameinitiative@outlook.com. We will respond within 30 days.
We implement multiple layers of technical security to protect your information:
We retain personal information only for as long as necessary to deliver the program and meet our legal obligations:
You have the following rights regarding your personal information or your child's personal information:
To exercise any of these rights, email us at fairgameinitiative@outlook.com with the subject line "Privacy Request." We will verify your identity before processing any request and respond within 30 days.
In the event we become aware of unauthorized access to personal information stored on our Platform, we will:
If you believe your account has been compromised, contact us immediately at fairgameinitiative@outlook.com.
We may update this Privacy Policy periodically. When we make material changes, we will update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify registered users via email. We encourage you to review this policy periodically.
Your continued use of the Platform after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the revised policy. If you do not agree to the updated terms, you should discontinue use of the Platform and contact us to request account deletion.
FairGame Initiative
Ohio-based nonprofit organization
Email: fairgameinitiative@outlook.com
Website: fairgameinitiative.org
For privacy requests (access, deletion, correction, or parental consent withdrawal), include "Privacy Request" in your subject line. We will respond within 30 days.
For general inquiries unrelated to privacy, use the contact form at fairgameinitiative.org/#contact.